Of course you already knew that.  Yet it amazes me how many businesses continue to ride this plane into the ground.  I heard this on the radio the other day and I think, in addition to being really funny, makes some great points.

So what do you think?  Can you come up with any great places to keep the phone book?  How about a worthwhile use beyond a prop for a bouncer at a bar to make a point with?

Still afraid to let go of your prime yellow page ad location?  Click here to see more on the topic.  Still unconvinced?  Let’s go to lunch and review your options.

Many small business owners spend a major chunk (as much as 100%!) of their advertising budget in the local yellow pages.  Many give little thought to the return they should expect from these advertising dollars – in fact many that I talk to initally don’t even consider these costs to be advertising.  “It’s just something a business has to do” is a comment I hear on a regular basis.

This lack of attention allows your friendly phone book rep to foist some myths and legends on you if you aren’t careful.  Here is a run down of the most common – and what the yellow pages own readership data has to say about them.

Traditionally, there is a lot of stress around a business owner’s interaction with her yellow page rep.  This is scripted by the rep to make the negotiations to their advantage.  Here are a list of  issues that you may often be mislead about:

You have to make your decision now. 

There is no fire.  The phone book is planned months in advance.  However, if you do make a snap decision on this, you are doing your rep a huge favor.  They have hundreds of businesses to squeeze see and typically are in your market for only a few weeks.  Therefore, if they can get you to sign in the first meeting, they can cross you off their list and move on to the next one.  However, (more…)